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Lolita Book Summary and Study Guide

Detailed plot synopsis reviews of Lolita


Humbert Humbert is a European academic who comes to America and who has a penchant for nymphets--young girls. When he sees the young Dolores Haze he marries her mother so that he can be close to her. When her mother dies, he seduces her and takes her on a journey across the United States. He is in love with her but she is also not innocent and soon she takes off with another pedophile called Quilty. The narrator, Humbert Humbert then goes on a journey to try to find her again and win her back so he can molest her too.
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The review of this Book prepared by Asif Jehangir




Writing from prison where he is held on trial for murder, Humbert Humbert recounts his obssessive passion for 12-year-old Lolita. Fleeing a bad marriage from France to America, Humbert rents a room from Charlotte Haze where he becomes obssessed with Charlotte's daughter, Dolores (aka, Lolita). While Lolita is away at summer camp, Humbert marries Charlotte. When Charlotte discovers Humbert's diaries and their lacivious fantasies about her daughter, she is enraged and runs out into the street where she is struck by a car and killed.

Humbert fetches Lolita from camp, takes her to a hotel where they begin their sexual relationship before he has even told Lolita her mother is dead. He then takes Lolita on a year-long journey across the US in an effort to avoid the discovery of their relationship and any intervention by the authorities on Lolita's behalf.

At the end of the year, Humbert settles down with Lolita in the town of Beardsley where he sends her to an upscale private school for debutantes. Humbert and Lolita battle fiercely over her allowance and her behavior with boys, culminating in Lolita's insistance that they go back on the road.

Humbert complies and quickly figures out that he and Lolita are being followed. Lolita's suspicious behavior suggests to Humbert that she is complicit in this and her sudden disappearance leads Humbert on a chase to find Lolita and exact revenge on her new lover.
The review of this Book prepared by Jennifer Martin-Romme




Lolita is the sad story of Humpbert Humpbert, a man with the overwhelming desire to love a young girl. Humpbert falls in love with Lolita, a pre-teenaged girl, at first sight and marries her mother to have full access to Lolita. His plan is almost thwarted by her mother's discovery of Humpbert's pedophilac tendancies. However, Mama's accidental death proves the catalyst for the unlikely pair of lovers to set off on a cross-country trip where Humpbert indulges his most secret fantasies. The book details the relationship, ever-changing, always taboo, between Humpbert and Lolita, a relationship that, by its very nature, seems doomed to ultimate failure.
The review of this Book prepared by Annelise Montone




This is Vladimir Nabokov's satire on America. Motoring across the post war american landscape with his sly European wit and Lolita in tow, Humbert-Humbert, who Nabokov assures us is not him, describes the continent's wondrousness, meanwhile engaging in the most heinous debaucheries with a first willing, then protesting Lolita. All the while, he is pursued by the shadow of Q Quilty, another nymphet-o-phile, who finally absconds with his pet, who, in the final chapter, is found in a settlement in the far north, older, wizened, bereft of the memories of any real childhood.
The review of this Book prepared by Damon LaBarbera




European handsome guy and French scholar Humbert Humbert
has a thing for 11 & 12 precocious little girls he calls nymphets. He finds the perfect girlfriend in his stepdaughter, American wild child, 12-year-old Dolores Haze. She is a very sexy preteen who loves her "dad" for a while. But the older she gets, the more she begins to hate him, and having forced sex with him all the time.
She eventually runs away with an even dirtier old man whom
Humbert must get even with in the future. "She was Lo, plain Lo, in the morning, standing four feet ten in one
sock. She was Lola in slacks. She was Dolly at school. She was Dolores on the dotted line. But in my arms, she was always Lolita.”

The review of this Book prepared by Joan Clare




A man, driven to eccentric madness by the loss of a childhood love, becomes entranced with the young daughter of the single mother he is bording with. To secure his residency, he marries the woman--and upon her untimely death, embarks on a road trip with the young girl, concealing her mother's death, all the while oblivious to the man following him. The man is is none other than an old family friend, holding the affections of the young girl, hoping to recruit her for his private pornography circle.
The review of this Book prepared by Eric Mason




Humbert Humbert is a scholar who moves into a boarding house where Lolita and her mother live. He eventually marries the mother, but is obsessed with Lolita. Her mother dies and Humbert begins his downfall through his obsession with Lolita.
The review of this Book prepared by Jenna Evans



Chapter Analysis of Lolita

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Plot & Themes

Tone of book?    -   depressed Time/era of story    -   1930's-1950's Romance/Romance Problems    -   Yes Kind of sex:    -   molestation Is this an adult or child's book?    -   Adult or Young Adult Book Taboo sex story?    -   Yes

Main Character

Gender    -   Male Profession/status:    -   scholar Age:    -   40's-50's Unusual characteristics:    -   Genius    -   Super sensitive soggy jelly muffin

Setting

How much descriptions of surroundings?    -   7 () United States    -   Yes Small town?    -   Yes

Writing Style

Sex in book?    -   Yes What kind of sex:    -   vague references only    -   touching of anatomy    -   rape/molest Amount of dialog    -   significantly more descript than dialog

Books with storylines, themes & endings like Lolita

Vladimir Nabokov Books Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s).
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